Archives for April 2012

I am not going to lie, this has to be the coolest cutter I have ever owned. For a couple reasons…

1. Xikar makes great cutters. Period. – If you are like me, you have seen a variety of neat looking cutters that just come up short (no pun intended) when it comes to the actual cutting portion. I have yet to have a Xikar cutter fail in the cutting department.

2. The 3D Mayan cigar cutter is a work of art – before you ever start cutting. Half cutter, half sculpture. Even the weight of it is noticeably heavier than the average cutter.

3. So far, knock on wood, I have not run into another one. It is a real attention getter – so much so you might want to consider keeping it on a chain.

We have seen these as high at $250 retail. I picked mine off Amazon for $179.00. Although somewhat pricey for the average recreational cigar smoker, it just may be the last cutter you ever buy.

It comes in a gift box with a certificate to redeem a free Sting-Ray cutter sheath.

Not sure how long you can grab them for the same price I did…so good luck.

California’s Other Tobacco Products (OTP) Excise Tax Rate Drops for Fiscal Year 2012-13
State Revenue and Tax Code Section 30126 requires the Board of Equalization to annually review and determine the Other Tobacco Products (OTP) excise tax rate. The new excise tax rate is effective July 1, 2012 and will remain in effect for the 2012-13 fiscal year.

The 2012-13 OTP excise tax rate is based on the wholesale price of premium cigarettes as of March 1, 2012.

The new California excise tax rate will be 30.68%. This represents a reduction from the 2011-12 rate of 31.73%.

Although the “amount” of reduction may not seem like much – especially given the massive amount cigars are taxed – it is still as step in the right direction!

I get a kick out of the weekly emails sent out by cigar companies. This morning was, “Grab this box of premium cigars for only $20 a box!”

Oh, and did I mention they were also going to throw in a humidor and lighter?

WOW! What a deal right?

Not really.

I get sick and tired of hearing about people that are disappointed with cigars just because they were chasing some ridiculous low price.

If I sold you a car for $10,000 and threw in a boat and RV would you think you were getting a good car? Of course not. Why do you think the cigar world operates any different.

The fact of the matter is that the cigars typically suck. Big time.

So the would-be cigar smoker ends up throwing half of them away or decides that they just can’t get a good cigar anymore.

Here is what I recommend;

Stop chasing the incredible $2.00 a stick deal that comes with “free stuff.”

If it is a budget issue for you, then smoke less, but get better cigars. You will enjoy the cigar experience a ton more (even if it is slightly less often).

If this sounds like a rant, it is.

I started the Nomad Cigar Company to try and stop people from chasing crappy cigars. No, you won’t find a $2 cigar over at Nomad…and I am not going to apologize for that fact either. Sure I have plenty of deals over there (like with the Fugitive club you can earn free cigars just for referring friends) – but I will never sacrifice quality.

Too many of these high-volume online shops take their dried out cigars that have been sitting in the back office and make them “specials.”

Deciding which size humidor you should buy seems like one of those obvious questions that prompt the response, “well, how many cigars are you going to hold?”

What is the best size cigar humidor? Here are few guidelines to help you along the way.

The Small Fry ($29.00 – $150)

A small humidor holds somewhere between 50-100 sticks. Although we have seen some that hold less than 50, we don’t think you want to go there. 100+/- is a great starter humidor and can often be picked up online very cheap.

Oftentimes you can find “specials” where the cigar merchant (typically online) throws in a humidor, lighter, and cutter – along with whatever cigars they are pushing that week. The cigars usually suck – buy hey, you can get a decent small humidor out of the deal for a great price.

The green “sponge bricks” that come with these cigar humidors are usually not very good. Grab a Boveda Humidifier Pack and you are in business – with little effort.

Medium Collector ($150 – $500)

The 300-500 count humidor is great for the average cigar smoker. Keep in mind, that you are still in the class where you are mostly buying individual sticks (boxes take up a lot of space).

You may not think you need something big, but you will invariably have about 30% of your stock that sits around for a variety of reasons (the need to age, saving for a special occasion, etc).

The medium size gives you a bit of flexibility over a small one when saving cigars for a later date.

Go Big or Go Home? ($500 – 2,000)

A large humidor is a commitment, but not a lot more hassle. We are talking about the cabinet size (roughly 5’ high, 2½’ wide, 2’ deep).

For starters, you can take advantage of box pricing. That alone can make the humidor pay for itself over time.

Secondly, some people are afraid of the humidification system. Save yourself time and pick up an Cigar Oasis II. Easy to use and will keep your collection safe.

Lastly, you might find a great large cabinet humidor for $600-$700. Keep an eye on Craigslist or eBay. If you are patient, you can practically steal one.

Size Matters

No matter which size you start with, you will most likely “upgrade” sometime in the future. Just seems to be the natural order of things. Make sure you shop around as the pricing on humidors is dramatically different from merchant to merchant – make sure you are getting a good deal.

Bottom line, if you smoke cigars, this is important and will only take 2 minutes of your time.

Below you will find an excerpt of a petition to the Obama administration put forth by Cigar Rights of America (CRA) and the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association (IPCPR). We only have 30 days to get 25,000 signatures.

2. Click on the “Create An Account” button. (The White House requires this for security verification)

3. Within a few short minutes you will receive and email and you MUST click the link within to activate your account.

4. Once your account is active, click on the “Sign the Petition” button.

Your support is very important. The 2 minutes you spend helping now could equal hours of cigar enjoyment for the rest of your life!

Below is a copy of the petition.

We petition the Obama administration to:

Not Allow The FDA To Regulate Premium Cigars

Dear Mr. President:

The FDA is considering the creation of regulations for the premium cigar industry. These regulations will jeopardize over 85,000 American jobs, destroy America’s “mom & pop” premium cigar retailers & manufacturers, and risk over 250,000 jobs in Latin American that produce cigars, impacting the economic/political stability in the region.

We hope you will stand up for small businesses that dot Main Street America & recognize that premium cigars are enjoyed by adults, are not addictive and therefore do not conform to the Congressional intent of the Family Smoking Prevention & Tobacco Control Act.

Tell the FDA to leave our premium cigars alone. With this nation’s more pressing issues, harming my simple ability to enjoy a cigar should not be a priority of the government.

Share with a friend…

Use the “Share” button below to share this with your friends. The last thing we need is more big government intervention in our everyday lives!

Hang around a cigar shop long enough and you will no doubt run into the old question, “Can you figure the weight of cigar smoke?”

The conversation starts out light enough (no pun intended) but it can get serious real quick as more and more people weigh in (pun intended).

First off, here is the history.

Rumor is, Sir Walter Raleigh once said that a large portion of a cigar is “smoke” and that he could effectively weigh it.

Here is what he did…

1. Weighed the cigar before smoking.

2. Smoked the cigar while carefully saving all of the ash created.

3. Weighed the ash (along with the remaining butt).

4. Subtracted the end weight (ash and butt) from the start weight (whole cigar).

5. The difference, he surmised, was the “weight of cigar smoke.”

Sounds simple enough huh? Probably best to leave it at that.

Enter the geeks…

As the evening progresses (and possibly some drinks) someone in the crowd knows more than they should and still gets an issue of popular science delivered to their home.

Then something like this comes up…

“But what is ash? I mean generally there are oxides of Si, P, Ca, Fe, Cu, Zn, and K. You need to consider what those elements were bound to before combustion. You also need to consider the temperature and pressure of the surrounding environment. I suppose a muffle furnace would suffice.”

What the hell?

OK Sheldon, sit down in your favorite cigar chair and shut up. Sheesh. Some people take all the fun out of it.

It seems that some people just have too much money. And I don’t necessarily mean “wealthy.”

No, I mean people that just throw money away when it comes to picking out a decent cigar.

There are two ways to blow money when it comes to buying cigars.

1. Buy overpriced cigars or

2. Buy cigars that are too cheap.

Frankly, I am not sure which is the greater sin, so let’s start with the first one.

Twenty years ago, things were different. Your cigar choices were limited in two ways. One, there were just a lot less cigars out there and two, you were pretty much victim to whatever your local cigar shop deemed appropriate to carry.

That has changed.

There are lots of cigar companies out there…big and small. The big boys like Avo are putting out quality cigars at a variety of price points. New start-ups like NomadCigarCompany.com have figured out how to create quality cigars and an amazing price.

So, at the end of the day, you don’t need to pay $20 a stick for a quality cigar. Heck, you don’t even have to pay $15.

Secondly, stop chasing cigar that are under $4.00 a stick. I mean really. What kind of quality do you really think you are getting? For the most part (and yes, there are a couple of exceptions but probably not yours) anything under $4.00 a stick is the bologna of the cigar world – you just don’t know what you are getting.

My advice to the first group is try some lesser expensive cigars. Stop trying to prove yourself to the world via showing off the right “label” and actually enjoy a better smoke.

As for the second group. If it is a budget issue, just skip a cigar here and there and double your budget. You will have a much better cigar experience and stop blowing money on crappy sticks.